Princeton teaches you to aim for something like 70% on the passages you do while scanning and identifying harder passages and saving those for last.

EK has different tricks...one they teach is to answer the questions w/o looking at the passage.

IMO, do what is best for you. Everyone's advice is going to be a little different. I started out using TPR way and I was consistently getting 8s. I switched to the "screw strategy" strategy (just power through it from start to finish and make sure I answer every question) and started improving. I think practice is the best strategy.

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like ExamCrakers Verbal is either on par or below the actual MCAT difficulty. Maybe it's only me.
I've been scoring anywhere from a 9 to a 14 with 12 as the most common score that I've been getting. I guess I'll have to see how I do on the actual AAMC

Princeton teaches you to aim for something like 70% on the passages you do while scanning and identifying harder passages and saving those for last.

EK has different tricks...one they teach is to answer the questions w/o looking at the passage.

IMO, do what is best for you. Everyone's advice is going to be a little different. I started out using TPR way and I was consistently getting 8s. I switched to the "screw strategy" strategy (just power through it from start to finish and make sure I answer every question) and started improving. I think practice is the best strategy.

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Hi Thank You for ur advise

I feel like im in the same boat as you, i guess i been doing the princeton plan but i been averaging around 7 or 8.. But i really want aim for higher. Can u plz be more specific on ur screw strategy..how much time do u give ur self on each passage?how much did u improve from the princeton plan? do u do all the passages in order? do u feel that ur understanding the passage better by reading it much faster (in contrast with the princeton plan) ? ANy help on ur plan would be veryyy much appreciated.. Thanks for helping. If any one else that likes to share his plan and thinks his plan would help me plz give me ur advise. goodluck to everyone

I feel like im in the same boat as you, i guess i been doing the princeton plan but i been averaging around 7 or 8.. But i really want aim for higher. Can u plz be more specific on ur screw strategy..how much time do u give ur self on each passage?how much did u improve from the princeton plan? do u do all the passages in order? do u feel that ur understanding the passage better by reading it much faster (in contrast with the princeton plan) ? ANy help on ur plan would be veryyy much appreciated.. Thanks for helping. If any one else that likes to share his plan and thinks his plan would help me plz give me ur advise. goodluck to everyone

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I don't look at how much I average/passage but I go fast enough to finish w/ 5-10 minutes remaining. I just go straight in order and read fast. If I don't understand something, slow down but don't reread too much. Be confident and aggressive when answering. If you're pretty sure of an answer, don't go back too much to be 100% correct. Trust yourself if you have read the passage once thoroughly. Basically, forget about strategy. Read it, understand it, answer the questions w/o any bells and whistles.

Hey guys I was wondering if you guys are using the method EK has given for verbal and if it is working

They say to take an exam wait a day go back and only look at the question stems and answer choices and try to get as much info from then and try to answer the questions,

Then it says to wait another day and go back and write a main idea for each passage.

The whole question stem thing doesnt seem to be that great for every passage. The example they give in their lecture is great, but it does not apply to every passage and every passage does not really give that much info.

Also some of the answers are purely on remembering detail or going back

Anyways, is this the format anyone is using and seeing improvements?

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I was trying to use their method, for the most part, but I wasn't seeing improvement.

I've been trying to read the passage and reword the questions and answers, per their method, but if I get stuck on an answer choice or a question, I go back. I've been finishing just in time on basically every test.

Step 1. Understand the main idea.

Step 2. Do you like the author? (I actually prefer to answer this "no," it makes me more critical of the passage)

Step 3. Read with an opinion. Don't just try to take in all of the information.

For the past week, I've been trying to take a test every other day. If I'm unsure of a question while taking it, I typically circle the number. Even if I get it right, I read their answer choices and try to understand how they made their conclusions. I, of course, review every answer I miss.

Some people say "rewrite all the questions, answer every question multiple ways until you understand every way to answer, etc." I don't have enough time in three days to complete that vigorous of a review for one test.

I'm curious to see if this book was intentionally written with the first few tests harder than the later tests so that students "observe" an improvement in score as they go through the tests in sequence.

So when I buy this book, I will pick the tests in random, and I will let the whole SDN community know if this upward trend over time is still observable.

I have a feeling that Tests #1,2, and 3 will be the lowest scores regardless of when I take them.

It would be nice if they would post these tests online so you could get more practice reading the passages off of a computer screen (which I find difficult) than reading out of a book.
I guess thats what the 'full length' practice tests are for.........

It would be nice if they would post these tests online so you could get more practice reading the passages off of a computer screen (which I find difficult) than reading out of a book.
I guess thats what the 'full length' practice tests are for.........

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Hi, i need ur help:

i been struggling with verbal, what strategy r using when ur doing ur verbal exams. R u doing all 7 passages, or doing 6 and skipping the killer passage? How much time do u give urself on each passage? how did u improve, what did u do so different? etc? i REALLy need some advice. im really afraid that this verbal section is going to destroy my mcat score. any advice from anybody will be thankfull. Thank YOU.

i been struggling with verbal, what strategy r using when ur doing ur verbal exams. R u doing all 7 passages, or doing 6 and skipping the killer passage? How much time do u give urself on each passage? how did u improve, what did u do so different? etc? i REALLy need some advice. im really afraid that this verbal section is going to destroy my mcat score. any advice from anybody will be thankfull. Thank YOU.

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I'm taking the PR classroom course right now where they teach the strategy of skipping the "killer" section until last, but inorder to score in the 10's you are going to have to answer every question anyway (this is what EK teaches)... The PR is teaching a strategy that helps you score over the average (7) and the time you waste looking through the passages could be used getting through that "killer" passage...
so I've been using a stopwatch and ripping through the passages 1-7 in order... The first couple of tests I wasn't finishing until about 2 or 3 minutes over the 60 min time limit, but I finished the passages anyway and have been working on slightly improving my speed....
I think everyone needs to develop their own 'unique' verbal test taking style....
wow, I just read through that and ive been rambling... good luck.

How are you screwed with a 10 in VR? That's a pretty good score. Unlike the other sections, once you get to 11 in VR that's often in the top 5 percentile. The VR curve is quite a bit different from the others.

To answer your questions, you may be able to score higher than a 10, not sure I can tell you that, just keep practicing. However, IMHO although the passages in EK101 are easier to read than the AAMC's the questions are more ambiguous and often very arguable (so are some AAMC's, but not to the same extent).

Like other people have said, there are always 3-4 questions that are ambiguous between two different answer choices. It takes several tests to understand the logic that the testmaker is trying to produce - those two 9's are attributed to adjusting to the exam in that way. Because of this, I'm planning on finishing the 15 EK practice tests, then have at least 5 AAMC's left over to adjust.

How are you screwed with a 10 in VR? That's a pretty good score. Unlike the other sections, once you get to 11 in VR that's often in the top 5 percentile. The VR curve is quite a bit different from the others.

To answer your questions, you may be able to score higher than a 10, not sure I can tell you that, just keep practicing. However, IMHO although the passages in EK101 are easier to read than the AAMC's the questions are more ambiguous and often very arguable (so are some AAMC's, but not to the same extent).

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My TPR instructor says he can get 15's everytime on his verbal section and very rarely 14. He is my hero and I want to be like him.

Would you say the general consensus is that EK 101 is harder than the actual AAMC or easier?

Before you consider your verbal score at its peak, check your progress on the Examcrackers verbal passages with AAMC verbal passages. At least for me, my EK score has been 2 points higher than the AAMCs. Good luck!!!

Before you consider your verbal score at its peak, check your progress on the Examcrackers verbal passages with AAMC verbal passages. At least for me, my EK score has been 2 points higher than the AAMCs. Good luck!!!

In my opinion yes. I can go through EK and give the passage a good read through and answer most of the questions without having to go back to the passage so much. I've been scoring 10-11 doing this. When I apply this strategy to AAMC verbal...I end up getting a 7 or 8. If fact, May 10th, I got a 7 and I am retaking due to this. I think the AAMC passage are harder to read, less interesting, and the questions have answer choices that are more ambiguous. From my experience, the AAMC verbal writers include an answer choice that may be the "intuitive" choice but it is not the credited response. Usually, the "intuitive" choice when taking EK verbal IS the credited response if you understand the argument of the passage. So, I have decided to spend more time refering to the passage for the specific questions(inference, retrieval, vocabulary in contect) even if it means i have to guess on one passage because just hauling through all 7 gave me a bad score on May 10th.

In my opinion yes. I can go through EK and give the passage a good read through and answer most of the questions without having to go back to the passage so much. I've been scoring 10-11 doing this. When I apply this strategy to AAMC verbal...I end up getting a 7 or 8. If fact, May 10th, I got a 7 and I am retaking due to this. I think the AAMC passage are harder to read, less interesting, and the questions have answer choices that are more ambiguous. From my experience, the AAMC verbal writers include an answer choice that may be the "intuitive" choice but it is not the credited response. Usually, the "intuitive" choice when taking EK verbal IS the credited response if you understand the argument of the passage. So, I have decided to spend more time refering to the passage for the specific questions(inference, retrieval, vocabulary in contect) even if it means i have to guess on one passage because just hauling through all 7 gave me a bad score on May 10th.

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Thanks for the insight. Is the real thing harder than the AAMC practice tests as well? It also sounds like you're taking TPR's review or have at least gone through some of their material. I've heard some people say that TPR's passages are harder than the actual passages on the day of the test. Is this true?

See, when I took it I felt it wasnt harder and the passages actually seemed a bit interesting. I walked out thinking I pulled at least a 9...but I was wrong. I really think that it boils down to what I said before about the test writers knowing student's reasoning patterns and making an answer choice available that you feel fine with even though its not "the best" response. I took TPR and the passages seem to be a bit harder than AAMCs...especially in the ICC (in class compendum). TPR has a good summary of the different types of attractors that lead you to the wrong choice....that is what I am focusing on hoping I can better sort through the garbage that is thrown at me.

Also I did kaplan FL 9-11 and getting 7s and 8s. There's always one or two passages that completely destroy me for some reason either because the passage content was hard or the questions were too wishy-washy

Anyway I timed each test to 7 mins/passage and just try to plow through them trying my best to get the main idea. Kaplan verbal is too detail-question oriented whereas EK is more ambiguous/stretch answers.

Here are my EK 101 scores. I have the old book, so I just do 7 passages, cut out random questions evenly between passages to make 40 questions in total. EK seems to have more questions/ passage than the real thing.

EK101 #1 =4 (I know, I got all but one wrong in one of the passages)
Ek 101 #2 = 8
#3 = 10
#4 = 10 (1 question away from an 11)

I thought the EK was SIGNIFICANTLY easier than TPR or AAMC VR sections. I could consistently take the EK tests and miss around 4 or 5 questions total per test, but TPR I was getting 10's usually. And I took the June 13 exam so I'm still waiting, but...

The VR on the 6/13 2pm admin was absolutely brutal. EK didn't compare at all, it was so convoluted. I thought that 3 or 4 of the passages were easy, and the rest were horrific. I definitely should have spent more time on verbal... My advice - diversify. Do all the questions from all the different testing agencies (TPR, Kaplan, EK, etc.). It really is the ONLY way to ensure that you did all you could.

Before you consider your verbal score at its peak, check your progress on the Examcrackers verbal passages with AAMC verbal passages. At least for me, my EK score has been 2 points higher than the AAMCs. Good luck!!!

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In my opinion, EK 101 Passages are a joke, their book has mistakes(verified and acknowledged by EK themselves-thats why they released the 2nd edition) and the passages are so interesting to read. Trust me the MCAT will not give you interesting passages to read. If you want to really see where you are try TPR verbal, it is harder than AAMC, but your better off practicing on something harder than the actual thing than easier.

in my experience, ek was different than the real exam. really different and not accurate as to what the actual aamc / mcat is like. so, some people will find it easier and others harder, depending on how they individually perceive these differences.

when i was studying, i found i did not like ek at all. i did a few passages now and then, to brush up and improve my skills, but did not write many "actual" verbal sections. i focused on the kaplan and aamc passages, and ended up doing very well.

I wouldn't worry too much about it the only ones that I would use to gauge how well your doing are the AAMC ones online (www.e-mcat.com) since those were actually real MCAT questions, I would just use the EK for extra practice.

I just cracked open my new 101 book (2nd edition) and got 12/17 on the warmup, and if you scale it to follow the conversion chart and the end of the book it ends up being a 9.

I'm sure people have bitched about this before, but I can't believe they didn't even try to adapt the scales/answer keys for the new edition. The warmup has 17 questions, but the answer key for the warmup goes up to 18 questions. Wtf is up with that?

And heres another mistake: The answer key says C is correct for 16, but the explanations say B is correct.

I just cracked open my new 101 book (2nd edition) and got 12/17 on the warmup, and if you scale it to follow the conversion chart and the end of the book it ends up being a 9.

I'm sure people have bitched about this before, but I can't believe they didn't even try to adapt the scales/answer keys for the new edition. The warmup has 17 questions, but the answer key for the warmup goes up to 18 questions. Wtf is up with that?

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I've said it before and I'll say it again.... Examkrackers is walking on thin ice when they decide that they can forego any customer service in order to make a buck because they have a good product.....

It'll continue to work until some other test prep company finally comes around and makes an online version similar to the quality of EK101.... with a good simulation of AAMC material, and the ability to take in on a computer rather than a book.... EK will suffer major losses because they'll have nothing else drawing people to their product once they lose the advantage in quality for verbal.

If I knew how to write MCAT verbal passages I would jump on it... there's a lot of money to be made.

Is there any way to get verbal up to 12-13 consistently in two weeks???

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My exam is in 3 weeks and I have the same question. I think reviewing the EK exams and AAMC verbals are helping me, but my scores are not really increasing that much so I don't know what to do differently to boost those VR scores.

I think the problem lies with my pacing. I took 10 minutes per passage the first few passages and then halfway I realized that there were 7 passages, not 6. I freaked out cuz my timing was wrong and I messed up during the latter half of my exam.

I found that I was running out of time on the new EK warmup, to the point that I had to skim fast on the final passage, reading perhaps 1 out of 5 words. Not surprisingly I scored a 7 on it . The odd part is when I did the first full EK verbal tonight I finished with over 10 minutes to spare at the end but only scored a 9. I couldn't really bring myself to go back to the earlier passages and second guess randomly with the extra time.

If I had slowed down a bit I'm sure I could have raised my score, but I have to confess I actually disagree with some of the answers provided. Some of the wrong answers are a better fit, even after having some time to mull it over they still seem wrong. Oh well.

It looks like pacing will be the big skill to work on to maximize this section.

Just an FYI on the course error content, the full Kaplan Online course is plagued with errors as well.

Suppose I'll edit in scores as I get them:

1: 9
2: 9 -3 hours of sleep and kids plus pets annoying the crap out of me.
3: 12 and I think a couple questions had wrong answers from EK after reviewing all of it!
4: 11 (EK put out new scaled scores, possibly should be 12) Finding a few questions out of the 40 on every exam that seem to have been mistakes
5: 9 Had an off day, doing full exam every other day and EK verbal every day or every other day. May need to take a day off, hard to do with 2 weeks to test.
6: 9 This one had a large number of dubious answers, I counted about 6 that were really off.
7: 12 Not much to say about this test. I can't argue with anything I got wrong, reasonable explanations. I can't fathom how two back to back tests can be so disparate.

I switched to a new method, where I read exteremely rapidly, and refer very often to the passage. I did EK8, 40 questions over 7 passages (I did not do the last question of every passage, worked out to a nice 41 questions). I finished with 12 minutes to spare, and to my surprise only 5 wrong! This translates to a 12. I am sticking with this method to the end